Weather Talk: Late-summer heat waves can bring back high temps

In late summer, the weather usually is not as hot as it was in high summer. The average high today is 77 degrees, 6 degrees cooler than three weeks ago.

But the weather is not always cooler this time of year. In the past, during the fading days of a dry summer, it has been quite common for there to be a late-summer heat wave. Some examples include 100 degrees on Aug. 25, 1886; back-to-back 100-degree days on Aug. 27-28, 1984; 102 degrees on Sept. 8, 1959; and a most remarkable 101 degrees on Sept. 21, 1936.

But the most remarkable hot day late in the year came on Oct. 17, 1910, when the temperature in Fargo-Moorhead reached 90 degrees, the latest 90-degree day on record. The year 1910 also holds the record for the earliest 80-degree day on March 23.